Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Alborada (Part 1 of the Feast Day of San Miguel)

Literally translating as "The Dawn", this crazy festival could only happen in Mexico. It would certainly be illegal in the US (much to the shagrin of personal injury attorneys, who would make a fortune if this type of thing was allowed up north). In a nutshell, this is a pre-dawn fireworks battle like nothing you've ever seen or heard. It's just one part of the celebration of the feast day of San Miguel, the patron city of our town, which actually lasts an entire week (very Mexican). The Alborada itself is a re-enactment of St. Michael's battle with Satan, so the idea here is to have a fireworks battle between good v. evil. Armed with gigantic bottle rockets of tremendously dangerous power, San Miguel's holy warriors launch them from right in front of the cathedral out into the crowd of people standing in the central plaza. Satan gets his fair share with his own barrage of huge, spark-trailing rockets that are fired straight up into the sky from the roof of the municipal office on the opposite side of the plaza.

San Miguel initiates the battle with flames and explosions...

...followed by rockets fired at Satan's minions in the plaza...

... aka the crowd, who bravely dance amidst the blasts...

...and here's Satan's reply from the other side of the square...

Words really cannot do any justice to the sheer madness of this spectacle. The noise is deafening, the smoke intense, and no matter where you choose to seek protection, huge bottle rockets are exploding all around you. It is the closest thing I've experienced to what an all out fire fight in combat must be like. And this thing doesn't last a half an hour, it lasts a full two and a half hours. Two and a half hours of ear drum damaging mayhem! This thing makes a Who concert look tame. Each year the firemen and ambulance crews are on hand to attend to the wounded, of which there are usually around 10 people with serious injuries. No lie. Only in Mexico...

The firemen stand by, ready to put out burning tourists...

Another view of San Miguel's rockets being launched from the cathedral into the square.

Last year I attended the event with my pal Sam Hillers, who managed to get an exploding bottle rocket right in the bicep, leaving a nasty black and blue and green bruise and a third degree burn the size of a golf ball. A minor injury. I managed to get my camera snatched out of my hands (hence no posting a blog last year) but with cat-like reflexes, I dove and tackled the guy right in the middle of the plaza and nearly ripped his pants off. He got arrested but the camera was gone for good, so I hung around and watched the rest of the show. I later stumbled home with bloody elbows, a torn shirt (a white shirt, I must add), covered in soot and ash, and nursing some bruised ribs (the thief's buddy was kicking me in the ribs while we were wrestling on the ground). Minor injuries. "Don't ask" was all I could muster in reply to the look of shock on Janan's face. It was sometime after 6:00 AM.

This year was a bit more tame. I avoided the thieves and explosions and only suffered a few burn holes in my jacket, some mild bronchitis from the smoke inhalation, and ringing ears for the next 12 hours. And this time I managed to get home with my camera to document the spectacle...

And as if the endless battle between St. Michael and Satan wasn't enough, the Alborada concludes with one additional fireworks display with the lighting of a "castillo", a three storey tall tower of spinning, spark spitting, rocket firing pyrotechnics that concludes with a three foot wide sparking wheel that shoots a few hundred feet into the air before burning out and crashing down on someone's roof deck. Only in Mexico!

The castillo gets going...

...more sparks are flying into the crowd...

...and the grande finale blasts off into the sky.

It's time to go. The sun is coming up, San Miguel has defeated Satan, my ears are ringing, and I smell like I've spent some time in one of the lower and more sulphurous rings of hell. So I'm heading home to catch a few hours of sleep before heading back down to the plaza for more festivities to come...